el alamein

Following the fall of the low countries, France and Singapore, it was the first major Allied victory since the outbreak of war in 1939. It provided the Allies with major strategic and economic advantages, boosted British morale and begging of Italian

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North Africa sig

In June 1942, however, the German “Afrika Korps” led by General Erwin Rommel, who was nicknamed the “Desert Fox” by the British, captured Tobruk and forced the Allied powers to withdraw to the small railway town of El Alamein

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Limits of El Alemen for Rommel

, employing his fast panzer divisions, however, this was tactically impossible at El Alamein, as the southern flank was protected by an impassable salt marsh known as the Qattara Depression, and the northern flank was protected by the sea.

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Strategic impact of El Alamein

. The Suez Canal remained in Allied hands. This ensured Britain’s passage to the wider world remained open, which was particularly important to the war raging in the far east. Furthermore the Middle Eastern oil supply was denied to the Axis powers. G

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Strategic impact of El Alamein 2

. Also the victory meant there was no possibility of Axis forces in North Africa linking up with the German armies in Russia and signalled Allied domination of the Mediterranean Sea.

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Strategic impact of El Alamein 3

Churchill at the time was also facing growing pressure from Stalin and the British supporters to open a second front against Germany. Therefore the Victory rallied the British to continue to contribute to the overall war effort on the ground.

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Significance in Boost to moral

Most significantly, however, it gave a massive boost to British Morale. Historian David Kowles quotes Churchill in the comment, “before Alamein we never had a victory. After Alamein we never had a defeat.

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End of war Churchill quote

Churchill described the battle by saying “It is not the end, it is no even the beginning of the end, but perhaps it is the end of the beginning”.

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Allied operations

The victory of the battle was combined with the joint landing of a 120,000 strong Anglo-American force in Morocco and Algeria on the 8th November 1942 under Operation Torch

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Axis surrender

The axis forces surrendered in North African on the 13th May 1943. 130,000 Axis prisoners of war were captured

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Quote on significance of El A

David Thompson said, it was of great strategic importance that “made the most steps possible”. control of North Africa permitted the italina invastion in the summer of 1943. As Churchill said, it was an attack on the “soft underbelly of Europe

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Results of Africa

Historian William S Shirer describes how as a consequence the failed Axis campaign in Africa showed the high tides of Nazi success was beginning to ebb and never flow again; “a great and terrible Nazi dream was destroyed”.

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Stalingrad intro

The ill-fated German plan for invasion had three main impacts: it shifted the strategic initiative to the Soviet Union, it had a large scale psychological effect upon all stakeholders involved, and it Soviets to win the war on the Eastern Front

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Barbarossa launch date

Barbarossa was launched on the 22nd of June 1941 in an attempt to quickly pacify the Soviet Union

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Barbarossa purpose

to allow for the de-mobilisation of potentially excess troops to improve the wartime economy, to gain agricultural land in Ukraine and the oil fields near Baku and Grovny, and to end the German rearmament and modernisation of the Soviet military

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Size of Barbarossa

During Barbarossa they assaulted with over 3.7 million Axis soldiers accompanying thousands of tanks, aeroplanes and field guns

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Eastern front significance

It was recognised by the high command that “Germany could not win a long, drawn-out war. In order to win the next war, Germany would have to win it fast, very fast. This is how the blitzkrieg concept was born”

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Early success blitzkrieg

By December 3, some units were 30km outside of Moscow, their final objective, but the attempt at capture was unsuccessful. Pauwels writes “It was believed, though wrongly, that the fall of Moscow would “decapitate” the Soviet Union and thus bring abo

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Significance of Moscow

. It is claimed that this was the “new Battle of the Marne” that Hitler dreaded by Pauwels. The blitz would have “Guaranteed German Victory”, but as its momentum faded it was repulsed and led to a consolidation period

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Blau significance

in 1942, however, that operation Blau commenced, and saw the objectives outlined in Operation Barbarossa return to the spotlight.

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Leadership at Stalingrad

Held up in Stalingrad, the Germans were attacked by the Soviet forces in Operation Uranus, led by General (Later Marshal) Georgy Zhukov, which surrounded the German 6th Army led by Generalfeldmarschall von Paulus

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Quote on defeat at Stalingrad

Peter Antill writes “With the end of the battle for Stalingrad, the Wehrmacht had suffered such a serious defeat that it was obvious to all that the strategic initiative had passed to the Soviet Union

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Advantage of stalingrad

This gave the Soviets the strategic advantage, allowing them to push south, greatly altering the course of the war. Germany had also grown weaker as it failed to gain the resources and increased production it required

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Phycological impact of Stalingrad

It was only after the catastrophic defeat in the Battle of Stalingrad during the winter of 1942-1943, that the German public, and the entire world, would realize that Germany was doomed”.

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Impact of loss of moral

Richard Overy gives the example that Stalingrad was when “the point at which they suddenly begin to believe in themselves” and it was at this point that “historic Russia has been saved”

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Significance of moral

Germany no longer appeared to be an invincible foe, but a beatable enemy. It should also be noted that Germany lost its faith in its military allies such as Romania, greatly affecting the scale of their future operations.

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Evolution of satinet tactics

Col Richard Glantz discusses how the Red Army began to more successfully utilise their greater manpower to their advantage, waging a war of attrition against Germany

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Success of Russian tactics

This tactic proved successful at reducing enemy numbers, with the Germans to “Run out of divisions” in November 1942. The use of large manoeuvres, as seen in Operation Uranus, as well as the prevention of enemy utilisation of armour, were developed a

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Which battle is this demonstrated in

This is seen in the Battle of Kursk in 1943, where large scale reinforcement utilising manpower as well as anti-tank defences led to a costly, but decisive victory

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Quote on attrition

As Glantz said, “it’s a true war of attrition”. The Soviets also learned to let the “Wehrmacht exhaust itself”, as stated by historian Kennedy Hickman

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Front

North Africa sig

Back

In June 1942, however, the German “Afrika Korps” led by General Erwin Rommel, who was nicknamed the “Desert Fox” by the British, captured Tobruk and forced the Allied powers to withdraw to the small railway town of El Alamein